📋 The Brief
The Problem: A Vision With No Platform to Run It On
The founder had already secured an instructor lineup, a curriculum and a launch date. What they didn't have was a platform. Off-the-shelf solutions like Teachable or Thinkific were too limited — they couldn't support live interactive classes, community features, or the custom progress tracking the curriculum required. Building on Moodle would take a year and feel dated from day one.
The brief: build a purpose-designed platform that felt modern, performed flawlessly and could handle everything from pre-recorded courses to live Zoom-style sessions — with the instructor experience as carefully considered as the student experience. And they needed it live before the cohort they'd already sold spots to started in 14 weeks.
The complexity wasn't in any single feature — it was in the combination. Live class scheduling, video hosting, progress tracking, subscription billing, community discussion, assignment submission and certificate generation all needed to work together seamlessly. It required a disciplined, phased build with daily communication and no scope creep.
❌ Challenge
Off-the-shelf platforms couldn't support live classes + community + custom progress tracking in one place
✓ Solution
Custom-built platform unifying all features — no third-party LMS limitations, fully ownable and extensible
❌ Challenge
Hard launch date — first cohort already enrolled and waiting, zero flexibility on timeline
✓ Solution
Phased delivery — core student experience live by week 10, instructor and admin tools by week 14
❌ Challenge
Three very different user types (students, instructors, admins) each needing distinct, purpose-built interfaces
✓ Solution
Separate role-based dashboards sharing a single backend — distinct UX for each persona, zero overlap confusion
📦 Platform Modules
Eight Modules, One Cohesive Platform
Every module was designed as part of the whole — not bolted together, but architected from day one to share a unified data model, design system and API layer.
🎬
Video Course Library
Pre-recorded course content with chapter navigation, playback speed controls, transcripts, bookmarks and per-lesson completion tracking. Hosted via Vimeo private API.
📡
Live Class System
Scheduled live sessions with Zoom SDK integration, attendance tracking, session recordings auto-uploaded to the course library and calendar sync for students.
📊
Progress Tracking
Granular progress tracking per lesson, module and course. Learning streaks, time-on-platform metrics and completion percentages — visible to both students and instructors.
✅
Assignments & Reviews
Students submit assignments (code, files, text). Instructors review, annotate and grade. Automated reminders for overdue submissions. Grade history visible to students.
💳
Subscription & Payments
Stripe-powered subscription billing — monthly and annual plans, promo codes, failed payment retry logic, invoices and revenue dashboard for the admin team.
💬
Community & Discussion
Per-course discussion boards, Q&A threads on individual lessons, @mentions, instructor pinned posts and a weekly digest email of top discussions.
🏆
Certificate Generation
Auto-generated, verifiable PDF certificates on course completion — unique verification URL, LinkedIn share button and admin bulk-export for cohort completions.
📈
Admin & Analytics
Full admin dashboard — user management, cohort management, revenue analytics, engagement metrics, instructor performance and content management for the course library.
👥 Three User Roles
Purpose-Built Experiences for Every User Type
A platform is only as good as the experience it gives each type of user. We designed three completely separate dashboard experiences — sharing a single backend and design system, but tailored entirely to each role's actual needs.
🎓 Student
Built for Learning
- Personalised dashboard with progress + streak
- Video library with chapter bookmarks
- Live class calendar + Zoom join links
- Assignment submission + grade history
- Discussion boards + peer Q&A
- Certificate download + LinkedIn share
👨🏫 Instructor
Built for Teaching
- Course builder with drag-and-drop modules
- Live class scheduler + Zoom management
- Student roster + engagement analytics
- Assignment review + annotation tools
- Discussion moderation + pinned posts
- Revenue share reporting
⚙️ Admin
Built for Scale
- Full user + cohort management
- Subscription + revenue dashboard
- Platform-wide content management
- Instructor onboarding + permissions
- Engagement + completion analytics
- Bulk certificate export + verification
⚙️ Tech Stack
Technologies Used
React 18
Next.js 14
TypeScript
Node.js
PostgreSQL
Prisma ORM
Stripe API
Zoom SDK
Vimeo API
AWS S3
Redis
Tailwind CSS
SendGrid
Vercel
📅 Timeline
Zero to Launch in 14 Weeks
1
Week 1–2
Discovery, Design System & Architecture
Scoped all 8 modules, mapped the data model and defined the component design system. Wireframes for all three user dashboards approved. Database schema finalised.
2
Week 3–6
Core Student Experience
Auth system, student dashboard, video course library with Vimeo integration, progress tracking and lesson completion built and tested. First internal review with the founder completed.
3
Week 7–9
Payments, Live Classes & Community
Stripe subscriptions live, promo code system built. Zoom SDK integrated for live class scheduling and attendance. Community discussion boards launched with email digest system.
4
Week 10–12
Instructor Tools & Assignments
Course builder, instructor dashboard and assignment review system built. Certificate generation with unique verification URLs live. Instructor onboarding flow completed.
5
Week 13–14
Admin Dashboard, QA & Launch
Full admin and analytics dashboard delivered. Complete QA across all roles, devices and browsers. Performance optimisation — sub-2s page loads. First cohort enrolled and first live class ran on schedule.
📈 Results
First Cohort Live. On Time, On Budget.
The platform launched on the founder's target date with the first cohort of students. No delays, no scope cuts, no "we'll add that later" workarounds. Every module that was scoped in week one was delivered by week fourteen.
14wk
Delivered on the exact timeline promised — zero delay
500+
Students enrolled within 60 days of launch
8
Full platform modules delivered, all production-ready
Within 60 days of launch, the platform had 500+ active students, was running 4 live sessions per week and had processed its first 80 certificate completions. The founder told us the certificate verification feature alone had driven several student referrals — students sharing their certificates on LinkedIn and generating inbound interest organically.
The platform is now in its third cohort and the client has commissioned a mobile app build as the next phase of the project.